


trigger on the head, bang bang

by wpwp



Category: N.Flying (Band)
Genre: 2idiots finding comfort in each other, 2seung terrifying, Alternating Third Person POV, Angst, Friends to Lovers, Friendship, Gen, Hunger Games AU, M/M, dongsung is baby we love dongsung, maybe ???, these aren't accurate to the hunger games rules and universe, told in snippets/short scenes, violence but not really That graphic
Language: English
Status: In-Progress
Published: 2020-09-30
Updated: 2020-10-05
Packaged: 2021-03-07 23:02:23
Rating: Teen And Up Audiences
Warnings: Graphic Depictions Of Violence, Major Character Death
Chapters: 12
Words: 5,783
Publisher: archiveofourown.org
Story URL: https://archiveofourown.org/works/26725612
Author URL: https://archiveofourown.org/users/wpwp/pseuds/wpwp
Summary: hun and jaehyun meet cute,but make it the hunger games universe.
Relationships: Cha Hoon & Kim Jaehyun
Comments: 2
Kudos: 15





	1. the sky is awkward today

i.

Crowds. Heat.

Sweat beads tickle Hun’s forehead and tears prick his eyes, and he almost raises a hand to wipe them away. He stops when his instructors glare at him. Hun glances at his family, whom, to his disgust, are all looking at him with pride. How can they still smile when they know they’ve sent him away to die?

_“You must volunteer.”_

_“District 1 needs a good male champion, and you’re our best, you know that.”_

_“You’re the most promising out of everyone I’ve taught.”_

_“If you’re the top in the academy and you don’t volunteer, it’s social death!”_

_“That loner boy is a coward after all, so I’ll be volunteering! I’ll be a better representation of District 1!”_

_“Pussy.”_

_“I’m so sorry, Hunnie, but unless you do this, our family will be…”_

_“Hunnie, I can’t lose my job just because my little brother humiliates the family… please.”_

Hun doesn’t remember who said what.

At first, there was resentment, of course. He never wanted to be the best. The betrayal tanged sourly when the friends, family, teachers he had trusted pressured him into all this mess. But now Hun is just tired, resigned.

He stands at the front line, waits for the emcee to call out a name.

When she does, Hun raises his hand.

“I volunteer.”

ii.

_It’s fine, it’s fine, I’ll be fine._

Jaehyun tries to calculate the chances of him getting reaped, but his mind is too full and his heart is thumping too hard. Almost fifty papers filled with his name are in the bowl.

 _It’s okay. Younghyun from the house across the street has twenty entries too._ _That’s twenty, though. And Hyunjae from school has twenty-two to feed his family and neighbors._

_And you have forty-eight_ , a little voice in his head quips.

 _Shut it,_ Jaehyun snaps back.

The fear must have shown on his face, because when he takes a peek at his sister Jaekyung in the female group, she’s staring at him too. She sobs quietly and looks away when he gives her a smile.

Jaekyung is District 11’s princess. She is kind, beautiful, adored. Everyone knows her, everyone loves her. Jaehyun is the one who loves her the most; he is glad this is his sister’s last year of reaping.

This winter has been particularly terrible, and Jaekyung has the manic idea of applying for more tesserae to make sure everyone in the neighborhood and the _slums_ has enough food. Jaehyun admires her so much for that, but no, no, no. If she applies for that much food, she’ll have too many names in the bowl.

So what does Jaehyun do?

He applied for more food in exchange for the addition of his name to the reaping bowl before Jaekyung could do it. She hit him when she found out. And she cried. He laughed.

Well, he’s not laughing now.

The emcee really does call out Jaehyun’s name.

People look at him with pity, some cry out—and maybe Jaehyun realizes that he’s loved as much as his sister is—but no one volunteers.

He wants to run away, but he bites his lip and makes sure his expression isn’t looking as terrified as he feels before stepping forward.

**Notes for the Chapter:**

> the theme of this fic is n.flying's fall with you! the title (and chapter titles!) are mostly from fall with you's lyrics. also, this fic won't be following the hunger games rules strictly. there might be some things that can't happen in the real hunger games universe.


	2. unfamiliar

iii.

The ride to Capitol didn’t take long considering District 1 is quite close to it. Hun never got to talk to the female tribute he doesn’t know the name of, she just sneered at him and left him alone when he approached her.

Capitol is beautiful, amazing. Hun knows District 1 is the district of riches, but it’s nothing compared to the glamor of this city.

People around him wear the strangest clothes and put on the strangest make-up. One of them has cat ears and whiskers, and he manages a smile at them. They laugh back and jokingly meow at him. What a strange person, Hun thinks. What kind of normal person does that?

He misses Romang.

Hun doesn’t really want to talk to the other careers, but he has to unless he wants to actually die early. On the train ride to Capitol, Hun realized that he doesn’t really have any reason to live anyway. He’s not exactly the most beloved person back home, and he doesn’t care if he gets offed. But remembering his family’s words—

_“Hunnie, your actions reflect on your family.”_

Hun has decided to not die on the first day. He can get killed by a Career a bit later on, perhaps. As long as he’s not an embarrassment.

iv.

Buildings that seem to soar to the sky, railways tens of meters above the ground, colorful hair and gowns and faces—Jaehyun is fascinated by everything that is the Capitol. He wishes his family can see this beauty too. Wait, scratch that, of course they shouldn’t. He is here because he doesn’t want Jaekyung to be here in the first place.

He has been cheering up the poor thirteen-year-old girl who somehow got reaped. She doesn’t deserve this, no one does. He asks her to remember her family and loved ones to motivate her to survive, but she says she doesn’t have anyone and runs away from him right before the train stops.

Jaehyun realizes that yeah,  
he doesn’t want to die.

He wants to hug his mom.

The room given to Jaehyun is spacious and clean, almost bigger than his whole house back in District 11. He looks out the window with amazement and curiosity, wondering what life would be like if he had been born here instead. His mother’s food is amazing, she would open a restaurant along with Jaehyun’s dad. Jaekyung would be the most popular celebrity in the city.

Jaehyun laughs at his silly imagination and leaves the window. He starts thinking up strategies to survive, because he is now sure he doesn’t want to die. District 11 is poor. Jaehyun isn’t sure he can find allies. No one will look at him and he’ll be alone, and maybe he’s not used to that-

but Jaehyun is determined now. He’ll find someone.

Well, maybe.


	3. not well

v.

From their first meeting, Hun already knows who will lead the Careers this year.

Yoo Hweseung, the male tribute from District 2. He stands shorter than Hun but the boy’s expression is the most confident Hun has ever seen, he feels much taller than he actually is. Hweseung shakes Hun’s hand and speaks friendly formalities.

“You must be Cha Hun,” the boy smiles brightly. “Wah, you’re so tall!”

“Ah, yeah.”

“Careful though, the taller you are, the easier it is for a shorter person to knock you down,” Hweseung says, still grinning. “I heard you’re good with knives, teach me sometime?”

“Sure!” Hun nods, flashing a polite smile back.

Hweseung then leaves him to talk another Career, which allows Hun a sigh of relief. Hweseung scares him a little, but the boy is likable and doesn’t seem hard to work with. Maybe he’ll be the one to kill Hun. Hun hopes he won’t be messy.

Hun understands that being from District 1 means he can meet other Careers and walk around the hotel freely before anything official happens, but he’s really tired of talking to these people. They seem to only have violence in their minds. Maybe except Yoo Hweseung, who only chimes in to tease once in a while with that scarily happy chuckle of his.

“Uh.” Hun finally gathers enough courage to leave. He’s sick of this, he wants to go home. “Sorry guys, I’m gonna have to leave early. I think I need some rest.”

The Careers nod and leave him be. Hun makes his way back to his room looking at the ground, contemplating what to do, until he sees a sofa near an elevator. He throws himself onto it and closes his eyes.

He’s really going to die alone, isn’t he? Killed by people he doesn’t know, surrounded by people he doesn’t know, watched by assholes he doesn’t know.

Hun doesn’t realize tears have dripped to his pants when he feels someone sit next to him on the sofa. He looks up and finds a boy staring at him, offering a hand.

The boy smiles at Hun. “Do you want to play thumb war?”

vi.

Jaehyun gets called an idiot often. He knows people say it as a joke. But now _he_ ’s calling himself an idiot, and this is serious.

He slipped out of his room to clear his head and now he’s lost. Someone might kill him for this, which is, although funny, undesirable. He needs to get back soon. Jaehyun rushes to wherever he thinks he came from. He remembers a sofa near the windows. A sofa, yes,

 _that_ sofa,

oh, wait. There’s someone crying there.

Jaehyun steps closer as quietly as possible. The boy on the sofa is about his age, pale, tall. He doesn’t make any sound but Jaehyun sees the drops of tears falling onto his pants. Poor kid. Is he a tribute? A servant? Most probably a tribute. He really shouldn’t get any closer.

But despite the little voice telling him to get away, Jaehyun sits next to the boy. He has no idea how to comfort this stranger, but he wants to try anyway with the only ways he knows how. He raises his hand and waits for the stranger to notice him.

The boy looks up with large dark eyes full of questions.

“Do you want to play thumb war?”

**Notes for the Chapter:**

> finally some meet cute


	4. someone new

vii.

Hun somehow manages to say, “Um. What?”

“It’s not good to cry alone out here, you know. Play with me instead.”

This situation feels too ridiculous to be real. “Ah… okay?”

He takes the strange person’s hand and wrestles his thumb, still dumbfounded.

The strange person laughs when he loses and asks Hun for a rematch. All alarms in Hun’s mind tell him that this boy might be dangerous and Hun should leave immediately, but-

“Who are you?” he asks instead.

“I’m Jaehyun. You?”

 _What?_ “I… I mean what do you want from me?”

“Nothing,” the other boy—Jaehyun—flashes a bright smile again. It contrasts so much with the Careers’ sour glares Hun has been seeing the whole night. “I just saw you being all sad and I thought, you know, why not try to cheer you up?”

Nothing proves that he’s telling the truth, but Hun is so taken aback by this Jaehyun guy’s answer that he decides to nod and stay. They sit awkwardly for a few moments until Jaehyun laughs. Hun turns to him with eyebrows scrunched in confusion, and Jaehyun just offers his hand again.

“Round two?”

Hun is silent for a few seconds before he erupts in laughter. “Yeah, okay, round two.”

viii.

It’s been hours. Jaehyun isn’t sure about the time, there is no clock around them and he’s forbidden from wearing watches. Not that he has any in the first place. He and this new friend, Cha Hun— _is he really a friend?_ —have been playing and joking around the whole time, but Jaehyun sees how Hun’s eyes flutter closed a few times.

“Shouldn’t you go back?” Jaehyun asks. “I gotta go, too.”

“Ah, okay.”

“Meet here again tomorrow?”

Hun blinks at that. “What?”

“I mean, you, you live here, right?” Jaehyun is sure he shouldn’t tell the other boy that he’s a tribute too, and he’s not supposed to be outside at this hour. Come to think of it, why is Hun outside if he’s a tribute? Does this mean he’s not? Jaehyun finds relief in the possibility, because he definitely doesn’t want to face a friend on the arena.

“I, uh, I do,” Hun says. “Um… it’s okay if we hang out again?” What he meant to be confirmation comes out like a question, because everything feels surreal. In the best way possible.

“Of course! We’re friends now, aren’t we?” Jaehyun gets up and waves. “Bye-bye, Cha Hun!”

He sees Hun faintly smiling when he said _friends_.

_Good, I’m sure he’s not a tribute._


	5. it hasn't hit me yet

ix.

Maybe this is the first time Hun has felt genuinely happy since the reaping.

His first step in his room pulls Hun back to reality, though. He has forgotten that he’s in the Capitol the whole time he was speaking to that stranger— _Jaehyun, was it?_ —who feels more like a friend, somehow.

Who is he?

A servant? An employee of The Hunger Games?

He _better_ not be a tribute.

x.

Jaehyun thanks his stylists as they attach more decorations to his clothes. He watches the monitor impatiently, waiting for the District 1 tributes to appear on their carriage.

It’s the opening ceremony night. All the tributes are to make a good impression if they want to survive. Sounds sick to Jaehyun, if he’s being honest—if some rich person takes a liking to a tribute, they can be a sponsor and help said tribute in the arena. _That’s basically prostitution_ , _right?_ he mutters once, and he waits for Jaekyung’s laughter responding to his stupid comment only to remember that he’s alone out here.

The ceremony starts with loud music, trumpets, drums. Jaehyun taps his foot along with the beat until the District 1 tributes appear in the monitor. The male tribute is about his age, pale, tall.

Jaehyun isn’t surprised. The Hun out there looks completely different than last night—he glares at the audience, at the camera, at the world. He scares Jaehyun a little.


	6. fool

xi.

Hun is standing on his carriage at the front, counting seconds until the event ends. The helmet on his head feels heavy and it makes the announcer’s voice echo in his ears. He hears Yoo Hweseung’s name after his own. Then another pair of names, and another, and another. He isn’t listening completely when the announcer yells, “Kim Jaehyun, District 11!”

He almost whips his head around to check, but Hun clasps his pants and makes sure his poker face is still there. So Jaehyun really is an enemy? Did he approach Hun to get on his good side last night? Did he cheer Hun up to see if Hun has any more weakness? Anger is present only for a moment—Hun immediately finds himself sad, disappointed.

He should have known.

xii.

It’s stupid, hoping that Hun will come back to that sofa again. Jaehyun contemplates whether he should slip out for a second time. It’s too dangerous, especially since Hun probably won’t be there. Worse, Hun might have told his Career friends and now they’re all waiting for Jaehyun to maybe rough him up before the games actually start.

But Jaehyun is lonely and he misses his family and his home and everything he left behind, and there is no one else to talk to.

“Whatever, let’s just go see if he’s there.”

“There you are,” Hun’s large cat-like eyes greet Jaehyun upon his arrival. “What took you so long?”

Jaehyun blinks at Hun, dumbfounded. Hun stares at him, leaning to the sofa arms comfortably. “What?” he asks. “Is there anything on my face?”

“No, not really. I just, I didn’t think you’d be here.”

“I’m here, though.” Hun shrugs.

Jaehyun heaves a sigh of relief and throws himself next to Hun. “Yeah.”

A comfortable silence dawns on them as they exchange smiles.

“So, today.” Hun starts.

“Yeah, today?”

“I saw your face in the monitor. And your expression—” Hun erupts in laughter. “Were you, hahahah, what, were you holding in something? You looked downright constipated, man!”

“No!! Don’t talk about that! I make weird faces when I’m nervous!”

“But-but it’s funny! You mean you do that on a daily basis? What the hell!”

He acts like nothing changed, as if he doesn’t mind that they both now know that they’re enemies, and Jaehyun decides to do the same. This is what he hoped for, after all.


	7. starting a day

xiii.

Group training day means more time to spend with other Careers, and Hun despises it. He walks into the training room wearing the angriest glare he has and immediately regrets it when he sees Jaehyun giving him a discreet wave from the corner of the room. Hun can’t greet back _now_!

He pretends he doesn’t see anything and picks up some throwing knives. Hun is too used to this—he no longer thinks, no longer calculates. His hand moves on its own after his eyes catch the moving mannequin, and before long he has used up all the ten knives he put in his pocket.

“That’s amazing,” someone says behind him. Hun turns around and sees a broad-shouldered boy with uneven eyes. Who is this again? The boy from District 4? Hun just nods as a response.

“Using bigger weapons is less effective, but more fun. Don’t you think?” the boy says, picking up an axe. Hun doesn’t see him swing it, but the next thing he knows two mannequins have been sliced half. Dangerous. He’s fucking dangerous.

“I don’t really…” Hun shrugs and moves away, but the boy takes a hold of his arm. His grip is strong, too strong.

“I’m Lee Seunghyub. Would you like to train together?”

He seems to have taken a strange interest on Hun. Hun wishes he could say no.

xiv.

Simply put, Jaehyun doesn’t know how to use weapons. He’s used to hauling heavy things, he’s fast, he has good stamina, but he has never once used a weapon in his life. Back home, if the food isn’t enough, he gathers whatever plants he can eat near the borders. He didn’t _hunt_!

What is he supposed to do if he faces someone in the arena? Run? Make weird faces at them?

“Um, excuse me,” someone taps Jaehyun’s shoulder, and he turns around to face a smaller boy. He seems a few years younger than Jaehyun, but his eyes have bags that kids his age shouldn’t have.

“I’m Seo Dongsung. From District 12.” He sounds friendly, but exhausted. Jaehyun wonders what the boy have gone through to make him this lethargic.

“Oh, hello. Kim Jaehyun, District 11.”

The Seo Dongsung boy asks for help setting up some targets because he’s too short to place them and bows as thank you when Jaehyun is finished. _What a nice kid_. Jaehyun wonders if he should just ask him for advice even if it means disclosing his weakness. He doesn’t know anyone here except Hun, and obviously Hun can’t talk here.

“Hey, Dongsung, right?”

Dongsung lets go of his arrow and turns to Jaehyun. He hits bullseye. “Yeah?”

“Do you think you can advise me on something?”

**Notes for the Chapter:**

> hyub a whole creep


	8. forgotten

xv.

“Hun!” Jaehyun greets when Hun arrives. He always seems so cheerful, so sincere. It’s a breath of fresh air.

“Hey. How’s today?”

Hun has no idea how the topic ventures to _home_ , but Jaehyun is now talking about his family.

“I miss them, and I want to survive just to meet them again, you know?” Jaehyun chuckles to himself. Hun envies him a little. He wishes he can miss home as much as Jaehyun does, especially seeing how fondly Jaehyun speaks of his family. “It’s stupid, but I’ll try my best to see them again! What about you? Your family must be really pretty.”

Yeah, Hun’s family must be—wait, “What?”

“Yeah, because you’re really handsome! I think the audience will love your interview tomorrow!” Jaehyun beams at him. Pretty. Jaehyun thinks he’s _pretty_. Hun tries to not think about it too much before flames creep onto his cheeks. “So, do you miss home?”

Not really. His parents and sister aren’t terrible people, but they’re the reason he’s here anyway. What does Hun think when he wishes to go home?

His cats.

“I miss my cats, mostly,” Hun says quietly. It’s not embarrassing to love his cats, right? Of course not. He mentioned them a bit in the academy back in District 1 and they mocked him for it, though—why is he telling Jaehyun—

“Oh! You have cats? What are their names?”

Jaehyun looks… interested. Excited. His smile is unfaltering, and Hun finds it infectious.

“Right, there’s Romang and Lion…”

xvi.

The interviews went by smoothly. Jaehyun noted which tributes the crowd loved the most: Yoo Hweseung from District 2, Lee Seunghyub from District 4, and shockingly, himself.

Jaehyun understands what entertains people most, how to make them laugh, how to make them like him. He’s glad to hear the crowd cheering for him. He feels even better when his mentor tells him some people are already interested in becoming his sponsor.

Yoo Hweseung is full of smiles and cheer, very lovable. He has a childlike innocence that the audience loves. It contrasts with him receiving the highest assessment score possible and all alarms raise in Jaehyun’s head when the other boy passes by him behind the stage.

Lee Seunghyub charms everyone he meets, including Jaehyun. He draws sympathy when he talks of his little brothers and everyone he takes care of back in District 4, and the crowd goes wild when he turns to the camera and tells a beloved that he will come home soon.

The audience gives Hun _woo_ s and _wow_ s at first, but he doesn’t say a lot. Seo Dongsung is bright and likeable, and the people at the front clap for him. Too bad half the audience has left when he goes up.

Two days left until the games, and Jaehyun forgets to be nervous because he can’t wait until night arrives to tell Hun stories about his sister. He forgot to do that yesterday.

**Notes for the Chapter:**

> audience can u pls pay attention to the dongsung!! you'll love him!!


	9. you make me high

xvii.

They’ve talked for too long tonight, it seems. Hun notices that Jaehyun is half asleep and trying not to lean on Hun when he dozes off. Sometimes he mumbles little apologies,

 _sorry what did you say?_  
 _huh? Sorry, what?_  
 _Hunnie—_ since _when_ did he start calling Hun that— _can you repeat that?_

Since Jaehyun isn’t listening, Hun lets himself speak. Speak something of substance, something that has been in his mind and he needs to spill out. “I don’t think I’ll survive in the games later, you know. I don’t even want to try survive at all. And you probably won’t live, too. Thanks for at least making me laugh this whole time, I’m glad I met you.”

“Aaaawwww.”

Hun didn’t expect Jaehyun would suddenly shoot up and tease him. “I didn’t say anything,” Hun shrugs. “I thought you were asleep.”

“Oh my god. Wow. I _knew_ it. You’re so happy we’re friends!”

“Gross.”

“You say that but you’re happy. Ehhh? Ehhhh?” Jaehyun pokes the hollow of Hun’s cheeks, grinning so widely and sweetly, an expression Hun tries to imprint in his mind for the joy it brings.

“Shut up.” Hun is glad he is naturally pale and he doesn’t blush often. This is _way_ too embarrassing.

“Hunnie is happy! Happy, happy little Hunnie!” Jaehyun stands up and dances along with his sing-songy mockery.

“Shut- shut up! Stop it!” Hun says, but he laughs along. He stands too and the two part ways. Hun almost takes a turn when Jaehyun calls him again.

“Hun!”

“What now?”

“I’m glad I met you, too! I hope we survive well!”

That’s a stupid wish to make, but Hun smiles. “Sure, sure.”

xviii.

“WHERE WERE YOU?”

Jaehyun’s heart jumps. His mentor is standing in front of the doorway, his hair tousled and eyebrows scrunched.

“I… I was… I was outside, I was lost, you know, I-“

“Someone could’ve _caught_ you!” Hongki is practically growling, his teeth almost clattering from anger. His voice echoes in the room and surrounds Jaehyun, cornering him. Jaehyun has never seen him this angry before. Lee Hongki has always been a nice mentor, very kind and friendly, but Jaehyun can see him clenching his fists until they turn white.

“I’m so sorry, I swear, I didn’t do anything!”

Hongki grits his teeth and raises a hand. Jaehyun flinches and shuts his eyes, ready to be hit, but no pain arrives. He looks up and finds Hongki glaring at him. “I have high hopes for you,” the older man says, his voice raked with anger. “I want you to live, Jaehyun, and your chances of survival isn’t terrible. I don’t want to go back to District 11 and tell your parents you died before the games even begin…”

“I’m sorry! I swear I’m sorry, I won’t do anything stupid again!” Jaehyun feels tears pricking at the corners of his eyes.

“… What were you doing out there? Did anyone see you?”

_Shit shit shit don’t mention Hun,_   
_but then what do I say-_   
_I don’t know-_   
_I can’t think-_

“There’s a stray cat!”

_Stupid, stupid!_

“A… a what?”

“I found a stray cat just now, it wondered here, maybe, and I took it out, and, and, and now I’m back.” Jaehyun knows his blabbering doesn’t make any sense, but who cares at this point. “I’m sorry, I’m an idiot, I really am, I really shouldn’t have done that.”

Hongki’s expression turns quizzical. He is silent for a moment, and then he laughs in disbelief. “And you expect me to believe that?”

“But I’m not lying!”

“Then you’re stupid.” Hongki grabs Jaehyun by the collar and hisses, “Don’t you dare do that again.”

_But what about tomorrow? What if Hun waits for him?_

“Okay, I won’t.”


	10. bleak

xix.

It’s the night before the games start. Logic tells Hun to get a good rest but he can feel the nerves prickling every inch of his skin. He might die tomorrow. He might die. Maybe he really should risk going outside to meet Jaehyun, that idiot can make him laugh, calm him down.

 _Alright_.

Hun sets off to their meeting place,  
and he waits.

And waits.

And waits.

Jaehyun doesn’t come.


	11. i just don't know

xx.

After a night of tossing and turning and praying hard that Hun didn’t come to the sofa, Jaehyun feels unprepared to walk into the games. Hongki walks with him to the elevator that will take him to the arena and gives him pointers until the very end, but Jaehyun isn’t listening.

“Well,” Hongki pats Jaehyun’s shoulder, “This is it. This is as far as I can go.”

Jaehyun stares at Hongki, blinking rapidly so his tears don’t fall, and pulls his mentor into a hug. “Thank you so much. Really.”

He steps into the elevator and closes his eyes. Run, don’t even get close to the Cornucopia, grab what you can if you pass something by. Jaehyun repeats Hongki’s instructions a few times until the elevator dings and he finds himself standing in a large field surrounded by greens. Suddenly it hits him how cold the air is, how harsh the wind slaps his face. He can’t survive in the jumpsuit the committee gives him, it’s too cold.

He and the other twenty-three tributes stand on their platforms facing a building shaped like a hexagon. Jaehyun can see weapons and backpacks scattered in and around the building. Can he manage to snatch one bag, maybe? There might be a coat inside…

It’s tempting, but Jaehyun knows not to be stupid.

_But it’s stupid to not take anything and then die of hypothermia, you know?_

_Fine_. Jaehyun will try to take one bag, he hopes he runs fast enough for that. Two platforms away from him stands Dongsung, already eyeing the forest. Jaehyun finds Hun twenty platforms away. Hun doesn’t look back at him.

The cannon blows, and Jaehyun runs.

He is fast enough to get close to one backpack without much trouble until someone tackles him and snatches it away. Jaehyun grabs the person’s legs and they trip. He elbows them in the head and slings the bag to his shoulder as he runs, praying no one else will get him. There are screams of pain and thuds and sounds of stabs behind him but Jaehyun tries to shut them out.

He’s close. So close to the forest. Yes, he can make it! And he’s almost unhurt!

But he notices someone running from the Cornucopia with a bow and arrows, stopping from a distance very near to Jaehyun, and drawing her arrow at Hun. Hun sees her, but he is busy fighting someone else and he can’t dodge and he might get hurt and he

Jaehyun doesn’t know what comes over him, but he jumps on her.

She misses her target and wastes an arrow, and she pulls out another to attack Jaehyun directly. Jaehyun wants to scream when she cuts his arm, but he grabs her remaining arrows and runs away until he can no longer breathe.

xxi.

_Why did that dumbass do that?_

Hun saw it. He saw Jaehyun pushing that girl away and Jaehyun got hurt from it. There was no need to do that _at all_ , she wasn’t after Jaehyun after all, why did Jaehyun have to get hurt for nothing? If he didn’t do anything, he would have been fine. Only Hun would have gotten hurt. Was Jaehyun trying to protect him?

After Jaehyun disappeared into the forest, Hun threw a knife to the girl’s throat. She dropped dead in a second.

Hun puts on a coat and gets closer to the hexagonal shed. He doesn’t like the cold. He sits next to Hweseung, who pats his shoulder when he arrives.

“Good work,” Hweseung says. The Careers along with District 4 tributes have taken over Cornucopia completely. They control all the supplies and they won’t get killed by the weather, all’s safe and sound for now. If only they didn’t have to hunt down others. Hun would’ve been happy to stay here and wait for others to die. Except Jaehyun isn’t safe—which shouldn’t be his concern at the moment, but Jaehyun got hurt for him. _Why, why?_

Hun nods at Hweseung. “Thanks.”

“Funny, isn’t it?” Hweseung gestures at the corpses around them. “Why did they ever think they could stand a chance against _us_ , when we’re clearly going to take over Cornucopia? Careers do that every year. Why can’t the small fries understand that?”

Everything he says is completely unnecessary, but Hun can’t say that out loud, so he nods again.

Hweseung’s lips stretches into a smile at the response. “You’re so quiet,” he comments.

“I just don’t like talking.”

“Well,” Hweseung smiles wider. “As long as you don’t stop using those knives, I don’t care.”

He leaves Hun with another pat on the shoulder and goes to talk to Seunghyub.

The sky turns darker, the air turns colder. Hun watches strong winds hurl at pine trees at the edge of the forest and hopes Jaehyun at least gets a coat in that backpack of his.


	12. call out

xxii.

A coat, a sleeping bag, and a small water container are the only things inside the backpack. Jaehyun doesn’t complain, at least he won’t die from the cold. He finds a hole inside an old tree and rests there, calming his breaths and pressing on his wound.

Should he just stay here forever, hiding until the game ends? No, even if he manages to survive until the end, the Careers will notice he’s still alive and hunt him down before killing each other. They can see who dies every day anyway.

Darkness has enveloped the forest once Jaehyun realizes he should probably clean his wound and look for water. He supposes no one wants to hunt in this cold, and if it’s too dark for him to see, it’s probably too dark for others to see him too. Whatever.

Jaehyun crawls out of his hole and walks almost blindly to wherever his feet take him, marking every tree he passes with a small, sharp pebble he found on the way. The cold bites into his skin even with his coat zipped up and the gash on his arm stings at every contact with his coat. He almost decides to give up when somehow, by pure, pure luck, he hears running water.

Excited, Jaehyun sometimes trips on tree roots and pebbles as he stumbles about looking for the source. He almost forgets to mark his way but runs back and forth grazing the tree stumps around him. There is a small stream just a few steps away from him. Jaehyun can’t see it well but he knows it’s shallow, the water probably won’t reach his knees if he crosses it.

He opens his water container and scoops water inside, smiling to himself.

Right. His wound, too. He should clean that up. Jaehyun rolls up his coat sleeve and starts pouring water on his arm. _It’s too cold._

There is a sound resembling a whine, a sob, and Jaehyun shivers. That’s not a ghost, right? Not a ghost, not a ghost, not a ghost— _wait shit if it’s not a ghost then it’s a tribute, isn’t that more dangerous?_

“Jaehyun?”

It’s familiar. Warm. Jaehyun swallows back his urge to take off running. “Yeah…?”

Seo Dongsung’s face emerges from behind a thick set of bushes, every inch of his skin slathered in mud. He smiles shakily at Jaehyun and croaks, “Help me.”

xxiii.

The third night comes without Hun noticing. When the cannons blow, he jolts awake and clambers outside the small dome that is the Cornucopia to see if Jaehyun’s face is there. Hopefully not. As he stumbles through bags on the ground, he bumps into a sturdy back that quickly whips around to face him.

“Hey now, chill. What’s gotten into you?” Seunghyub stares down at him with arms folded together. The older boy wears a coat too small for his size and Hun can see his muscles bulging even through the fabrics.

“Nothing.” Hun says, circling Seunghyub. “Just had a weird dream. Needed some fresh air,” he adds.

Hun gulps down a sigh of relief after all the faces of the dead flash on the sky. Five dead today. One was struck in the neck by Hun when the Careers went to hunt earlier this morning. He can go back to sleep without fearing for Jaehyun’s life tonight.

It’s such a stupid notion, to care so much for this person he barely knows. When Hun dragged his feet to the forest in the past two days, hating that he’s surrounded by people that terrify him and he knows will slaughter him later on, he tried to focus his mind on other things. Things that make him happy. And maybe because his memories of home have been tainted with betrayal, often the picture that comes into his mind is that of Jaehyun’s smiling face.

He hopes the picture stays in his mind and his mind only. If he meets Jaehyun during a hunt, he won’t be able to do anything but watch his friend— _friend,_ Hun almost gasps when he lets his mind admit it—meet his end.

**Author's Note:**

> the theme of this fic is n.flying's fall with you! the title (and chapter titles!) are mostly from fall with you's lyrics. also, this fic won't be following the hunger games rules strictly. there might be some things that can't happen in the real hunger games universe.


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